


Underneath the Mistletoe

by lydia_rogue



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Earth, Canonical Character Death, Christmas Fluff, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, coffee shop/college au, past Adam/Blake mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 05:05:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5526509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydia_rogue/pseuds/lydia_rogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Yang and Ruby's first Christmas after Summer passed away and Taiyang is away from home on a business trip. While doing some last minute shopping, they find Yang's roommate - Blake - is still in town and invite her to spend Christmas with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Underneath the Mistletoe

“Ruby, the last thing you need is caffeine,” Yang said as they made their way through the busy streets towards their favorite cafe.

“Dad said I could!” It was an old argument that inevitably came to the same conclusion.

“Dad said you could if I said it was okay. I’ll make Christmas mochas if you don’t…” Yang replied in a clear bid to get Ruby to agree.

“You always make Christmas morning mochas!” Ruby gave her sister a little shove.

“Santa won’t come if you’re still bouncing off the walls?”

“That hasn’t worked in years, Yang,” she replied, sticking her tongue out.

“Worth a shot.” She pulled open the door to the Black Drop sighing at the burst of warmth. “Half-caf?”

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiine,” Ruby said with a smile, pulling off her hat to reveal her short hair and knocking it against her leg to dislodge the water. “Large?” she added, hopeful.

Yang ruffled Ruby’s hair. “Yeah, sure.” Still grinning, she turned her attention to the dark-skinned woman behind the counter. “Hiya… Blake? I didn’t know you were still in town!”

Blake smiles, but it’s not quite as bright as Yang’s seen it before. “Yeah, last minute change in plans. Our dorm’s still open through the holidays though, so not a big deal.” She shrugged, but her posture slumped. She starts making the drinks they always order - a large half-caf mocha for Ruby and a large chai latte for Yang.

Ruby frowned. “Wait, you’re staying in the dorm alone for Christmas?”

Blake’s smile fades. “It’s fine.”

“Ruby…” Yang warned, but it was already too late.

“Oh no, you’re family now too. You’re coming to our house for Christmas! Dad’s out of town for some big meeting thing and couldn’t fly back for the holidays. It’s just the two of us and Yang will make _you_ a mocha Christmas morning like she always does.”

Yang grabbed her sister around the neck, slapping a hand over her mouth. “What my sister means is that if you would _like_ to come over you’re more than welcome to join the two of us for our traditional celebration which does include a mocha for those of us who are not annoying brats of a baby sis - Did you just LICK my hand?” she yelps, letting go of Ruby.

“Yup!” She gleefully took the drinks from Blake and went to pick out a table.

“Let me go wash and then I’ll pay,” Yang said, rolling her eyes.

When she got back, she smiled a little sheepishly. “Ruby’s got her heart in the right place, you know. We’d love to have you at our place for Christmas if you want to come. It’s only the two of us, since…” She looked at Ruby who was humming along to the Christmas carol playing over the speakers. “Losing Summer was hard on all of us and to top it off dad's out of town for business."  
Blake ducked her head and passed Yang her card back with the receipt. "I'll think about it." 

"If you do, you won't have to wait until after break to get your gift!" Yang promised with a wink and a laugh.

"You actually finished your Christmas shopping?" Blake gasped and covered her mouth, feigning shock.

"I always finish before Christmas!" she replied, lifting her shopping bag.

"It's the twenty third," Blake said, shaking her head. "I'll text you tomorrow, okay?"

Yang waved and sat down at the table to enjoy her drink.

***

They hadn't bothered with much in the way of decorations, just a tree and a wreath on the front door. They'd taken one look at the rest of the decorations - the boxes labelled in Summer's neat handwriting - and left the attic without them.

Things had looked up a little when they woke up on Christmas eve - still no snow, but Blake's promise to text gave them both something to look forward to. But as the hours passed without a word, the mood sunk again.

They'd eaten dinner in near silence before settling in the living room in front of the lit fireplace, Ruby trying to read and Yang trying to play a game, but neither were able to focus. 

When Yang's phone went off a little after ten that night they both jumped.

**I don't have anything for Ruby though.** Blake had texted without preamble. 

_No biggie she does like 2 read tho if u have a book you dont mind giving up_

**I could think of something.**

_can b there ~30 min if u want_

**I thought you lived 45 minutes out of town.**

_only if dads timing it_

"Is that Blake?" Ruby asked.

Yang just hummed non-committedly, trying not to get her sister's hopes up. 

_but srsly just come as u r_

**Well, you'd have to come get me first.**

_k b there in 30_

Yang grabbed her wallet and coat. "Be back in an hour! Don't burn the house down while I'm gone!" she called to Ruby as she rushed out the door, smiling at her sister's whoop of excitement.

Summer and her father had wanted her to have the 'full college experience' and live on campus at least to start. Yang had tried to convince her dad to let her move back home for sophomore year after Summer had passed away, but he wouldn't hear it and neither would Ruby. Didn't stop her from going back almost every weekend - sometimes dragging her roommate, Blake, along with her. 

Blake was already waiting outside their dorm when Yang arrived 27 minutes later - two packages wrapped in brown paper bags clutched tight in her hands.

"How fast did you go?" she demanded, climbing in the old Suzuki. 

"Dunno, the speedometer went out last night, haven't gotten the part I need to fix it yet," she said, tapping the dash panel in question. "It'll be fixed before the new year though."

"Great," Blake said, checking the time on her phone as they pulled out and headed towards the highway. "Let's not get pulled over on the way there, yeah?"

"Sure," Yang agreed, shifting through the gears as she got up to speed. "We'll be fine, don't worry about it!"

True to her word, 34 minutes later they arrived safely at Yang's home. "It's not much. With only Ruby and I, we wanted to keep it simple."

"It'll be good to have it quiet, Adam's family was... well, they were a lot."

Blake didn't talk a lot about Adam, just that they had been friends since she was young, then dated in high school. Their break-up freshmen year of college was sudden and painful. Blake never offered more than that and Yang didn't push. 

Yang was surprised to find Ruby was already in bed when they got home, but it was closing in on eleven. "You know where the guest room is," Yang said, waving down the hall. "See you in the morning?"

Blake smiled. "Sure, Christmas mochas, right?"

Yang laughed. "Yeah, and you'll get to see what Ruby's like with a fully caffeinated espresso in her." 

Blake just shook her head. "Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Good night!" 

"Good night!" 

***

When Yang stumbled out of her room on Christmas morning, she wasn't expecting the living room to have been transformed into a winter wonderland.

It used to be that Summer would set up extra Christmas decorations after Ruby and Yang went to bed - hung mistletoe from the kitchen door, lights around the crown molding, a garland and wreath over the fireplace - and when they were young, filled the stockings and set out the gifts from Santa, then got the fire going. In the most recent years, Yang had helped while she got things ready for breakfast as well.

Yang hadn't planned on it this year - the thought of doing it in Summer's place had been too painful. 

But Santa's helper this year - in the guise of a tiny seventeen year old Ruby who had fallen asleep on the couch - had crawled out of bed some time before Yang and set everything out.

She wandered towards the kitchen to start the hot chocolate and get things together for breakfast. She glared up at the mistletoe, stopping herself from pulling it down. It was in the most heavily trafficked area of the house, like it was every year. Yang suspected why Ruby'd hung it up - the two of them just did a fist-bump when they passed under it so it certainly wasn't for _them_.

No, this was Ruby's way of saying she was sick of Yang going on about how cute her roommate was. 

She shook her head and went back to the stove, getting out ingredients for hot chocolate.

"Thought you said it was going to be simple."

Yang turned around to smile at Blake, who was standing at the door between the kitchen and living room. "It was." She gestured to the mistletoe over Blake's head. "That was Summer's thing. She'd play Santa when we were young, tell us he came over and decorated as well as leave presents. I helped, last few years. But this is Ruby's doing."

"Even the mistletoe?" Blake said, mimicking Yang's earlier gesture.

"Yeah, even that. Want to come help?" she asked, trying not to focus on the fact that Blake was standing under the mistletoe.

"What do you need?" Blake walked over to stand next to her. Yang only briefly noticed her eyes flick up to the ceiling before she leaned in to kiss Yang.

Yang didn't stop to think - she was _finally_ kissing this beautiful woman and so wrapped her arms around Blake's neck, pulling her in closer.

Blake's arms went around her waist before they broke the kiss.

"I take it you missed the mistletoe above the stove?" 

Eyes widening in horror, Yang tried to step back, sputtering out apologies.

Blake silenced her with a finger to her lips. "You'll wake Ruby and I'd really like to kiss you again before that happens."

"I could get behind that," Yang said, pulling her in again for another kiss.

This one was only interrupted when Ruby shouted "This is the best Christmas present _ever_!" five minutes later.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas!
> 
> Yang studies kinesiology and sports nutrition with a hope of becoming a physical therapist.
> 
> Blake studies English with a declared focus of medieval literature - though has taken creative writing courses her adviser has asked no fewer than five times if she wants to switch her focus (she does, she just keeps talking herself out of it). 
> 
> One of my notes for this was simply "Ruby ships it."
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](http://www.marykay91.tumblr.com).


End file.
